High pressure laminates comprised of a core such as a particle board having a sheet laminate comprised of a plurality of resin impregnated paper sheets adhered to said core are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,717 describes such a laminate and a method for preparing such laminate. The method of preparing such composite laminates, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,645,717, comprises first preparing a sheet laminate by stacking the resin saturated sheets in the desired pattern and position in a mold or press where the sheets are subject to heat and high pressure sufficient to form a sheet laminate. The sheet laminate is removed from the mold or press and is then adhered to a surface of the particle board through the use of an adhesive.
However, this procedure is a two step process which is labor intensive. The first step involves stacking and arranging the thermosetting resin impregnated sheets in the mold or press and then laminating them to form a sheet laminate. The second step involves bonding the preformed sheet laminate, via a suitable adhesive, to the surface of the particle board core.
It would be economically advantageous if a high pressure laminate could be prepared in a one step process, i.e., if the resin impregnated sheets could be laminated to a core without first having to form a sheet laminate and then adhering this preformed sheet laminate to a core in a separate procedure.
The instant invention provides such a process. In the instant process the resin impregnated sheets are substantially simultaneously formed into a sheet laminate and the sheet laminate is laminated to the core.